Humble pie
What we have is a failure to communicate.
For the life of me I couldn’t figure out what you were doing. I gotcha now, at first I thought you were using the tire iron to beat the shit out of the truck when you got frustrated.
Runaway Trucks
- Thread starter Hammer166
- Start date
Electric Chicken
Well-Known Member
I mean that's crossed my mind sometimes...
Electric Chicken
Well-Known Member
But yeah they had so much old grease and crap, I took everything off that I could with a screwdriver then worked them loose. Now they're normal and the sleeve pops back out on its own. At first I couldn't push them in to adjust anything. They were so overloaded that I couldn't even see the adjustment nut.
the liberal
Member
Nice to see someone here that has personal experience with this road but still disappointing that nobody is discussing any of the other factors involved in this runaway. TY for your civility.
Electric Chicken
Well-Known Member
What's to discuss?
the liberal
Member
With someone who didn't know that trailers had brakes, not much.
Electric Chicken
Well-Known Member
I knew something asinine like this would be posted.
Because asking a question about a relatively specialized piece of equipment (converter dolly, not a normal trailer) is unacceptable to some folks.
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the liberal
Member
Really...??? Why don't you explain to us all, how exactly I messed up.
Humble pie
What we have is a failure to communicate.
I don’t know. Maybe making a gear shift going down hill instead of choosing the right gear before cresting the top. Then a range shift and gettin it hung in double nothing while going down hill. Then not realizing it’s out of gear before it’s too late. Lot’s of mistakes that weren’t the owner’s fault.
Electric Chicken
Well-Known Member
Double nothing. Lol.
the liberal
Member
Of course none of this was the owners fault. I blamed him for misrepresenting the condition of his truck, but I took full responsibility for being in too much of a hurry, to properly inspect the trucks overall condition.
I made improper assumptions based on the belief that this company's trucks had to be completely roadworthy because of the high dollar freight and because of previous experience of taking Canadian trucks into the USA while in the crosshairs of every DOT jurisdiction we drove through.
You're right about the range shift not connecting at the top of the hill. However, if you start picking up speed going down the hill, are you going to risk taking it out of gear and trying to find one that works
My decision was to deal with what I had in front of me. The passing lane, sporadic use of the foot brake (to keep it under 100mph) and determining that all of the smoke was coming from the tractor brakes. I fully expected to see the CHP at the bottom of the hill but they weren't and I stopped and set the brakes for the next hill going into the LA basin.
Humble pie
What we have is a failure to communicate.
Absolutely if I know it’s not in gear. It was already out of gear so what do you have to lose?
Duck
Sarcastic remark goes here
Trailers have brakes? Since when? This is news to me!
Electric Chicken
Well-Known Member
I'm not familiar with this particular hill. Do you climb then go back down or is it flat then drop?
All the hills around here that I've been on, you're crawling up before you're going back down. So you're usually already slow and can easily stop and pull over if you can't get it in gear.
Everything else is short or not steep or not curved enough to not stay at cruising speeds or a touch below.
the liberal
Member
That's the point. You know that once out of gear it's probably not going back in. It may be useless but at least you're not giving up on it. Having the gearbox hang up like that was a new experience so I used what I had to keep from killing anybody.
Duck
Sarcastic remark goes here
Ever had a splitter box fall into its own little neutral somehow and then make the mistake of flipping the splitter switch back without pulling the whole shifter into the real neutral first?
You wanta hear a CLUNK?
As loud as that clunk is, I'm surprised it didn't break something expensive.
Electric Chicken
Well-Known Member
Sounds like you need to practice your recovery shifting. But you do have to get it in gear long before you hit 90mph though.
And if it's flat then a hill, you need to get slowed down and in gear long before the drop starts.
If you just finished chugging up as steep as you're gonna be going back down, you're already set. Or nearly so. Maybe drop another gear but you're not going so fast that you can't just pull it over and start from scratch. I'm referring to those steep ass 9+% side and state roads you need to be less than 20mph for.
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Duck
Sarcastic remark goes here
It happens with a 13 speed if you're downshifting while jaking to a gradual stop, you go to drop half a gear but the throttle doesn't respond as quickly as usual and you don't quite reach the higher RPM required for the splitter to "grab". I don't really know how to explain it better. But then the engine falls to idle and you can hear that something ain't right in the trans.
The only way to correct this when it happens is to step on the throttle and get it to reach the proper RPM so it grabs like it should have the first time, or push the lever into neutral and flip it back forward, then match RPM with your foot and re-engage.
Never hit the splitter back forward while it's idling. It suddenly engages and instantly jerks the engine back up from idle.
I did that once and I was surprised it didn't destroy the truck.
This "splitter falling into neutral" thing has only happened to me during a regen because it screws up the throttle response.
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Electric Chicken
Well-Known Member
Yeah that would be pretty harsh.
Lots of us have personal experience on that road.
Quite frankly, I assumed the range shift was meant as a split. Couldn't possibly imagine the reason for a range shift in a truck with a Jake on Baker.
But the single biggest mistake you made, as pointed out by the others, is you didn't throw out the anchor while you had the chance. Even with the tractor brakes completely backed off, you could have easily stopped as soon as you realized something was amiss. The question then becomes whether you even realized you fubar'd, or did you know and not want to like an idiot by having to stop to get back in gear?
Either way, you put a lot of people at risk by making a rookie mistake. Not a mistake one would expect from someone with swinging experience.
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